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March For Our Lives: How To Get Involved

This piece was written by Francesca Willow and originally appeared on Ethical Unicorn. Reposted with permission.

Writing these kinds of posts makes me frustrated. Nobody wants to have to write about these events, because they should not be happening. As someone in the UK who has worked across quite a bit of The United States (and counts many Americans as close friends) I have spent years feeling frustrated and upset over the state of gun control in the US. It’s incredibly difficult to understand, as I’ve lived nearly my entire life with strict gun regulations in my country. The Dunblane massacre (which killed seventeen people, just like Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Florida) occurred just after my third birthday, and in its wake all handguns were banned, followed shortly after by the ban of .22 caliber guns as well. After Dunblane a gun amnesty was called and more than 162,000 handguns were surrendered. Since then, nearly 22 years later, the UK has had one mass shooting.

I’ve never known a life in which I have had to fear mine in a way that American kids do. I’ve never had to face the kind of corrupt corporate lobbying and empty rhetoric that follows every time something like this happens in America. For those of us in the rest of the world, we just sit and watch baffled, stunned, heartbroken. Helpless, time and time again. I can’t even imagine what it must feel like to be a young US citizen.

But this time, things could be different, and you don’t need to be in America to play your part.

‘We can’t ignore the issues of gun control that this tragedy raises. And so, I’m asking — no, demanding — we take action now’ (source)

In the wake of the shooting they have organised a movement, March For Our Lives, demanding for leaders and US politicians to do better. Here’s what you need to know:

What is March For Our Lives?

March for Our Lives is a mass protest taking place on March 24, 2018, demanding that the lives and safety of young people becomes a priority, that gun violence and mass shootings in school is brought to an end.